Seeing Double
by cosmically
Summary: [DOCTOR WHO WHOUFFLE AU]; Two Doctors, an unexpected romance, sadness and a baby. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

When his clone showed up on the TARDIS, things had been….interesting. He had no where else to go and he couldn't just kick him out. Besides, he had been part of the reason for him even existing in the first place. The ganger had been sad when he 'd learned about what had happened to the Ponds, but he was delighted to hear that he wasn't traveling alone, that Clara was with him. Well, them. It was weird, having a double around. He knew that he could trust him, but sometimes he saw him with Clara and the jealousy seemed to take over, take right now for instance. He was brooding in the TARDIS library, having left them at their flirting game that they had going on. It was driving him mad and he was surprised with how well Clara had taken to having a second version of him around. He'd see them and think that she liked the ganger better.

Speaking of the ganger, he'd recently come up with this game where he'd sneak up behind Clara and 'attack' her with tickles from behind just to hear her laugh. He hadn't noticed that the original him had disappeared. "You don't have to go home yet, do you Clara?" The ganger asked from behind her. He hated how she left to go to her real life. He didn't know how the Doctor could stand it. He wasn't alone, not really, but when Clara was gone he was. And it wasn't like they spoke often, if anything, he'd been keeping his distance lately. The looks he gave him, he knew that his original wasn't happy with how he was acting toward his companion.

The ganger watched as well as heard of how Clara laughed and turned to face him. She was all smiles before the slightest of frowns appeared on her face. "You know that I have to go home. I've got kids to teach and bills to pay." Real life sucked. If only he could convince Clara to stay with them for longer than she had, though he knew that the Doctor had probably tried to get her stay longer before now and he obviously hadn't been successful with it. He doubted that he would be either.

"I know. I just...it gets boring here. He's not...I don't think that he likes me being here very much." He didn't mean to be complaining to her, but he was and she had a sympathetic look on her face. "Have you tried talking to him?" It was obvious that Clara had noticed how the Doctor was acting, though she hadn't done much to try to stop him from acting that way, not yet at least.

Nodding, the ganger replied, "Of course I have. He just mopes and it's getting annoying. I'm trying to be friendly with him but honestly..." he lowered his voice. "I think that he's a bit jealous."

Clara's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Jealous?" She asked. "Of what?" The ganger glanced around, the Doctor wasn't here. He'd vanished somewhere when he'd been teasing her. The copy gestured between the two of them. "Of us."

"Of us? That's absurd. We're just friends." Just friends. Those words, however true, stung a bit, though it didn't show on his face. He nodded. "I know that, it seems that it's him that doesn't."

A thoughtful expression appeared on the young woman's face. "We should do something. All three of us, go somewhere, cheer him up. He's probably not jealous, just...bored. Yeah, that has to be it."

The ganger chuckled. Bored. Yeah, right. "Alright then. Let's go find the Doctor. Let's go somewhere."

And so they did. They found the Doctor in the library, as the ganger had suspected he might be. He was his copy, he knew of the places that he liked to go to get away.

"Doctor?" Clara asked softly as she sat down beside him. She was worried now that the ganger had suggested that his original might be jealous of them. There was no reason for him to be. The Doctor was her friend, the ganger was her friend, that was all that was between the three of them.

The time lord looked over at her, his eyes vacant except for the sadness that she could see in them. Those big sad eyes, she wished that he wouldn't look like that. He should be happy, he deserved to be happy.

"What Clara?" The Doctor asked softly, avoiding looking at his double in the room.

"Why are you hiding away? You should be out there with us, taking us somewhere. Somewhere...awesome. Quit moping and get up."

There was a raise of eyebrows from the Doctor. Moping, he wasn't moping. The Doctor opened his mouth to tell her just that when the ganger interrupted him from doing so. "You are moping. You think that I've taken your place or some other such nonsense and that's not true. We need you. She needs you and the TARDIS, while she likes me, she won't let me fly her."

Maybe his ganger really wasn't that awful. They'd gotten along before, the Doctor just hadn't liked how he seemed to be gaining Clara's attention so quickly. What was he doing that he hadn't done? They looked exactly the same, dressed nearly exactly the same, it couldn't be the looks.

"Fine. Fine I'll take you two somewhere. Just don't...," he almost told them to not flirt and he saw Clara raise an eyebrow in question to what he was going to say. "Nevermind. Come along you two."

With a sigh, the Doctor stood and walked out of the room, leaving the two behind and looking at each other with a mix of confusion and surprise. They were confused by the Doctor's actions and surprised that he had been so willing to do what they wanted right away. Maybe he really hadn't been moping or being jealous, maybe they were just making assumptions that they shouldn't be making.

The two followed after the Doctor and found him already in the console room. "Where are we going Doctor?" Clara asked as she went to stand beside him, well...she actually leaned against the TARDIS console. He leaned an arm around her to flip a switch.

"Somewhere cold. You better go change," the Doctor told her. Somewhere cold? That was different, not that she was complaining. She hoped that wherever it was had snow.

"I'll be right back then. You two behave." The tiny brunette gave each of the two men pointed looks and then skipped out of the console room, down the hallway and into her bedroom. She was glad that the TARDIS wasn't being as cruel as she had been before to her because she liked being able to find her room this easily. Clara went to her wardrobe and grabbed the first jumper she saw. She then found a skirt and leggings to match, some boots and an extra warm coat to go with the look. It didn't take long for her to change, but she did fix up her hair a bit before she went to go see if they'd landed yet.

And landed they had done. Clara entered the console room just in time. "We're here Clara!" The ganger said excitedly. The Doctor was already at the doors, waiting for them. The young woman smiled at the ganger in front of her and said, "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" The ganger offered his hand, but she saw how he looked at the Doctor to see if it was okay before dropping his hand at his side. She frowned. This had to stop. Clara grabbed his hand, tugged him along with her and then grabbed the Doctor's hand in her other. "Where are we Doctor? Tell me."

"Svartos. We've landed on the cold side of the planet, just as I wanted us to do. And look!" They had stepped out of the blue box, the doors closed behind them.

"Snow!" The ganger finished for him.

The Doctor looked over at his copy and smiled, actually smiled. They both loved snow, always had. There was just...something so cheerful and wonderful about it.

Clara was bouncing on the balls of her feet. And here he was considered the impatient one. "Really snow? I wish you'd brought us here when Angie and Artie were with us, they'd have loved this."

"Who are Angie and Artie?" The ganger asked, he really needed to give himself a name, he couldn't call himself the Doctor, that name was already taken.

"Oh. They were some kids of mine. Well, not _mine_, I babysat them." Of course. Now he understood. Clara was always around children, teaching and it made sense that she'd been a nanny. He was still learning a lot about her it seemed.

The trio began to walk, the Doctor leading the way. It was cold and the ganger found himself glancing at Clara every so often, she looked okay. They would have to make sure that she didn't get too cold.

"Look!" Clara said, pointing out something rising in the sky in the distance. Smoke. "There must be a fire. Are there people here? Or should I say natives? They're probably not people."

"You never know. They might be people. Humans have migrated all over the stars to make new homes for themselves when they knew that Earth was dying," the Doctor said knowingly.

The companion nodded. "We should go find out if they're humans. Where there's fire, there's probably food. And I'm starving. Your snog box has nothing but fish fingers, custard and jammie dodgers."

The ganger could have laughed at the offended look on the Doctor's face. "Oi! She's not a snog box. And those are my favorite foods. If you want other food on the _TARDIS_ then bring it yourself."

Clara rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to reply but the ganger stopped her. "Shh...I don't think that those are people," the ganger said softly. They all stopped in their tracks. The aliens, whatever they were, didn't seem to notice them. There were two there, human like, but very obviously not human. Their skin was blue and they wore very little clothing. Clara looked between the two. "Should we go? I um...it's getting a bit cold. Maybe we should."

"Clara, we can't go just because we think that they might be dangerous. Come on. Let's go say hello."

The ganger glanced at Clara and she back at him. The Doctor really could be an idiot sometimes, then again, so could the ganger. Maybe he was right, they usually took risks, so why not?

The trio reached the small campsite and were surprised at what they found there.


	2. Chapter 2

They were humans. Very blue, near to death humans. "Hello?" The Doctor said, waving a hand in front of one of their faces. No response. None. The fire obviously wasn't helping them.

"Are they dead?" Clara asked softly, keeping her distance, though there was a curious yet concerned expression on her face.

The Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver, while the ganger pressed two fingers to one of the blue humans neck. "There's a pulse," the ganger said before the Doctor had a chance to scan them. Still though, scan them he did. He brought the screwdriver up to his ear when he was done, checking the results. Not human.

"It's okay. They're not human, not exactly. And they're just sleeping," the Doctor told the other two. Clara raised an eyebrow. "Sleeping?" She asked. "But their eyes are open and they're…they look like they aren't alive."

The Doctor shook his head. "They're alive alright. And we should leave."

"What? Why?"

Pressing a finger to his lips, the Doctor gestured for them to follow. He didn't want to leve this adventure so soon, but these creatures, as soon as they woke they were likely to attack. Not him and the ganger, maybe the ganger, but Clara. They were this planets type of vampires, the closest they would get to real vampires anyway.

Clara and the ganger followed after him obediently and he quickly led the way back to the TARDIS. After snapping his fingers, the Doctor stepped inside his beloved time machine, the other two going in after him and shutting the doors behind them.

The ganger was oddly quiet, Clara on the other hand…."What was that all about? Shouldn't we be making sure that they're okay?"

His fingers were madly dashing across the TARDIS keyboard.

"They were fine Clara," the ganger answered her when he didn't. "They were…well, should we tell her Doctor?"

Looking over at the two of them, the Doctor thought for a moment before giving a small nod and then replying, "They were vampires. The closest we'll ever get to vampires. And as soon as they would have woken they would have attacked."

Clara paled. Attacked? Vampires? No, vampires couldn't be real. Could they? Suddenly she wasn't as hungry as she had been a few moments ago. Everything that she knew about vampires were fictional and they certainly didn't have blue skin. Then again, they had been on another planet, maybe this planet was the one that had actually had vampires.

She gulped and nodded. "Alright, vampires. So, where are we going now? That adventure was cut rather short."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "You want to go somewhere else?" Usually she wanted to go home after an adventure. He saw his companion shrug.

"I'm just not quite ready to go home yet," Clara replied, giving the ganger a glance. The ganger, not him. The Doctor frowned and shook his head. He shouldn't let it bother him. She just wanted to spend more time with his copy, get to know him a little bit better was all. Though for all he knew, they had could have shared each others secrets already.

"Alright. We'll go somewhere. How about Greece? Greece has some wonderful food and if I remember correctly, you said that you were hungry."

Clara looked at him and nodded. She wasn't all that hungry anymore, but she supposed that she could with a meal. And Greek food sounded wonderful right now. "Greece. I've never been. Mum wanted to take me once I graduated but.." her gaze drifted to her floor. Why was she mentioning her mother? The ganger, who was nearest to her, rested a gentle but comforting hand on her shoulder and his eyes seemed to tell her that it was alright. She knew that it was, she'd moved on, as best as she could anyway. Clara looked back toward the Doctor and gave him a small smile. "Take me to Greece."

The Doctor managed a smile back at her, if anything for her sake. He knew how sensitive the subject of her mother was to her. "Greece it is. Hold on tight you two."

They both did as told while he prepared the TARDIS to a trip to Greece. When they landed he made sure that he had his physic paper and sonic screwdriver. They were there. Good. They could go. The Doctor bounded toward the doors and stopped when he heard Clara say, "Wait. What's the weather? If it's warm I should change."

"You're fine Clara. Just take off your coat. What you've got on underneath will be good enough," the ganger said. Clara looked uncertain and she glanced toward the Doctor who nodded in agreement with his copy. She would be fine.

The three of them exited the TARDIS, shut the doors behind them and the two who could be considered twin brothers, let Clara walk ahead of them. It seemed that they had gotten there at the right moment. There was a festival going on.

Clara turned to grin at the two of them. "You picked the right time Doctor. I bet that there's a tone of food being served now," she said, feeling like she had been earlier, hungry. She could smell the Greek food wafting in the air and she wanted to go to it. The tiny woman grabbed their hands and tugged them along with her into the crowd and to the first restaurant that she saw.

The food was delightful and for once, Clara stuffed herself full. She was able to forget about the blue men on that other planet and just enjoy herself in Greece. Greece, her mum would have loved it here. She knew that this place was in her 101 Places to See book. If she was going to keep up with this traveling, she would have to start writing down where she was going.

"You okay Clara?" The ganger asked, eyes on her now that he'd already finished his plate of food. The Doctor was inspecting the fish that he'd ordered, deciding if it was worthy enough to eat, or so he'd said. Fish had to be made just right according to him.

Clara blinked and looked over at the copy. It was weird, seeing two of them there. No one else seemed to think anything of it. If anything, they probably thought that they were twins. She nodded."Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking is all." She smiled reassuringly at him. He seemed to relax and nodded at her.

"I think that I'll order something else," the Doctor said, obviously not having been paying attention to them, which was a good thing for once. There wasn't nearly as much tension as their had been before and Clara felt relieved. She shook her head at him.

"No Doctor, don't trouble them. Your fish is fine. I swear, you're just like a picky kid. Eat what you got or don't eat at all. Better yet, you can wait until we get back to the TARDIS to eat that fish custard stuff you like so much if it's what you prefer."

The Doctor pouted and picked at his food, deciding that one bite wouldn't hurt. He swallowed before saying, "I'm not a child and can you blame me for being picky? Humans have such odd varieties of food. Not only that, other planets ideas of food are even stranger." The ganger could only nod in agreement.

The trio finished up the remainder of their meal, mostly Clara and the Doctor since the ganger had gobbled his down like a starving man. When they were all decidedly done, the Doctor pulled the two over to a building where music could be heard from. According to him, Greece was known for it's dancing. So they danced.

They danced until Clara was sweaty and asking to go back to the TARDIS and even then the Doctor and the ganger were still going, still inviting random Greeks to dance with them. Clara was overwhelmed with it after the fourth hour there and she'd told them so. The Doctor and the Ganger both could only laugh and told her to go rest a bit, she'd be dancing again in no time, they'd said.

"No! I'm tired. I have classes in the morning. You both know that I can't stay out this long."

There was something mentioned about the TARDIS being a time machine. Clara rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I know that. But really, you two can come back and dance if you want. I want to go home."

The ganger looked alarmed. He hadn't even mentioned his wanting to stay with her yet, something that he'd thought about because how could he stay behind with the Doctor now after all of his moping from before? Of course, the time lord was cheered up quite a bit now. The Doctor had been pulled away by another woman to dance with and he saw Clara give an impatient look in his direction. The ganger rested a hand on her shoulder and spoke softly to her.

"We'll get you home soon, I promise. I'll make him stop after this dance." He glanced over at his original who was trying to teach the woman one of his more wilder moves. The ganger rolled his eyes.

Then he turned his attention back to Clara and softly asked, "Could I come home with you? For the week, I mean. He's doing better now, yeah, but I'd like…I don't know, I don't want to be a burden to him."

Clara's impatient expression turned into one of concern. "He doesn't think that you're a burden," she told him. How could he even think that? He was him, in a way. Did that mean that the Doctor thought of himself as a burden? Probably. She'd have to have a talk with them both. She supposed that it wouldn't be so bad to have him there. Despite the fact that she didn't think that the Doctor thought that his ganger was a burden, she figured that they both could do with a break.

"You can stay. Though I don't want you to destroy my house while you're with me. I know what you're like." He'd looked like he was going to protest. "And you're going to have to have a name. You won't let me call you Doctor and I can't call you ganger the whole time, people will think that's odd." She already did think that it was odd. He needed a name for himself.

She watched as a thoughtful expression appeared on the gangers face. She wondered what name he would choose.

"John. John Smith. I…he…we've used that name before to go undercover and well…it'll do if I'm really going to stay on Earth." Even if it would only be for a week.

Clara smiled. "John Smith it is. It's nice to properly meet you John Smith." He grinned back and her and kissed her on the cheek. She blushed.

"It's nice to meet you too Clara Oswald."

Eventually they were able to get the Doctor to stop dancing. It was a miracle enough in itself that they had. The Doctor led the way to the TARDIS, humming a song that they'd danced to. He seemed happier now, content. Clara hoped that he wouldn't be upset when they told him that the ganger would, John would be going home with her.

"So, where to now? Do you still want to go home Clara?" The Doctor asked at the console, his fingers hovering over the keyboard.

"Yes please. And…there's something that we have to tell you." She shouldn't have said that like that. Clara watched as the Doctor turned his gaze to them, his eyes suspicious.

"Your ganger….er, John, he said that he'll be called John now." A raise of an eyebrow from the Doctor. "He wants to come home with me for a bit. Just for the week. You'll have the TARDIS back to yourself again." Was it just her, or did he look a little bit sad? Clara bit down on her bottom lip, wondering if she'd just made a mistake. She should have said no to the ganger…John.

"That's fine with me," the Doctor finally said. "You two don't need my permission you know. He's not…my property or anything." He looked a little bit uneasy in saying that.

"We know that, but it's best to ask before just going or you'd have been upset, don't say you wouldn't be, I know you." I am you, Clara could tell that the ganger….John wanted to say that.

The Doctor just nodded before turning back to the console. She watched as he typed in the coordinates for her home and she held onto the nearest bar, John doing the same thing before they took off.

When they landed, Clara hugged the Doctor. "See you in a week," she told him with a smile. The Doctor watched them, forcing a smile on his face as they waved and then left the blue box. He was alone. At least with the ganger he hadn't been and he could understand why he wanted to go, but now….the Doctor sighed softly as the doors closed behind them and turned back toward the console. He was going to need an adventure to distract himself with. Perhaps those blue men would be enough of a distraction for him. The time lord grinned and set off for the first planet that they'd gone to earlier that day.


	3. Chapter 3

"This is the kitchen," Clara said. She was guiding him through her house or rather, flat. It was on the third floor. She had two bedrooms, one for guests, usually her dad and the other was hers. She had a decent sized main room, a smallish kitchen (she wished that it was bigger), closet, pantry and bathroom. Home sweet home.

"Tiny," the ganger...John. His name was John now, said. "Yeah, I know. Once I can afford something bigger I'll get it, but this will have to do for now." She usually ate in the living room, she even had a table there closer to the kitchen for when her family came to visit on the holidays.

"And this will be your bedroom," Clara said as she let him in the guest bedroom. "You didn't actually bring any clothes or anything. Are you really planning on wearing that for a week?" John shrugged.

"Hmm...my dad has some stuff here. You can borrow his clothes while yours washes when it does. I'm sure it'll fit. You're taller than he is but about the same size." John wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

"Thank you Clara." She looked over at him. Why was he thanking her? "For letting me stay. I know that I probably shouldn't, but I don't really have anywhere else to go and I don't know if I should be staying on the TARDIS much."

"You still don't think that you're a burden do you? Because you're not. Does he think that about himself too?" The questions just kept spilling out. Clara had never been able to control her mouth very well.

"I...yeah, he does sometimes," John admitted softly. She frowned. Why did the Doctor think that he was a burden? And to who? Her? His companions? Surely not. She sighed softly and sat down at the edge of the guest bed, gesturing for the Doctor's copy to do the same. "I can't understand why either of you think that you're a burden. You two are the most amazing...the things he's done, you..."

"I've not done that many great things yet," the ganger interupted her. He really hadn't. All he'd done was make sure that the other copies wouldn't be able to hurt the humans. He hadn't gone crazy like them and never would, but he still worried that he could be dangerous. He wondered if the Doctor worried about that too.

"Maybe not. But you will. I know you will." Clara smiled and slipped her hand into John's. He was pretty sure that he felt his stomach do a flip. And that smile that she gave him melted his hearts. "Come on. Let's go have some tea and watch the telly before bed."

They watched some Top Gear, which John really enjoyed. Clara seemed to be bored by it so they ended up watching a game show that she liked after. The tea warmed him up and Clara had somehow ended up resting her head against his shoulder. This was nice. Maybe they were moving fast, but this...friends did this didn't they? He heard her yawn and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Her yawn was adorable and while he was tempted to comment on it, he left her alone about it.

Clara had fallen asleep at his side and after a few minutes of thinking about it, the ganger...John, he reminded himself, finally decided to carry her into her bedroom. For some reason Clara had three mirrors, he'd question her about that later, but the rest of her room was nice. It was fitting for her. He gently laid her down on her bed and tucked her in. "Good night Clara," John said softly. He could have sworn that he saw her smile.

John wasn't tired. Not yet. And like the Doctor, he didn't sleep very much. He sat in front of the telly again, keeping the volume low so that it wouldn't wake Clara up. Guilt seemed to be sinking in and he worried that the Doctor would be upset, was upset with them. Or rather, him. He shouldn't be here. He shouldn't be with the Doctor either. He had no place with either of them. Where did he fit in then? Where should he be? These sorts of questions bothered him until he finally fell asleep sometime late into the night.

Clara was confused when he woke up. She didn't remember laying in her bed last night and normally she would have changed out of her clothes. It was her alarm that woke her. She had an hour to get ready, eat breakfast and get to the school. Sighing, the brunette got up and began her morning routine.

It was when she went into the living room did she remember that the Doctor's copy was staying with her. He was sleeping on the couch, the telly was still on and light snores could be heard escaping him every now and then. Clara shook her head, an amused smile on her lips as she watched him. She went to grab a blanket out of the closet and tossed it over him. He'd taken care of her last night, she could take care of him. She wondered if it would be like this if it was the Doctor that was here and not his copy. Probably. Maybe. She brushed back the flop of his hair with her fingers before turning off the telly and then going into the kitchen.

She almost always made herself either an omelet or simply an egg sandwich for breakfast. Today it was an omelet. It was when she was putting her freshly made omelet on a plate did she hear footsteps.

"Is that an omelet I smell?" The Doctor's voice asked, but it was his ganger. John. She turned to look at him and was surprised to see that his hair was messy despite her having brushed it back not very long ago. Clara nodded.

"It is. Do you want one?" She didn't have much time to make another omelet, but would make one if he wanted it.

"I do want one, yeah. But you eat yours, I'll make my own."

Clara raised an eyebrow. He could cook? "You can cook?" She asked.

"Yep!" John said almost cheerfully as he rummaged into her fridge for some eggs and the ingredients that he wanted in his omelet. She was impressed. If he could cook than so could the Doctor. Somehow she was just now finding that out.

Sitting at her counter, Clara ate her omelet and listened to him talk. It seemed that he had some plans for today while she worked. He wanted to go to UNIT, see if they would hire him while he was there. She told him that she wasn't sure if that was a good idea. Wouldn't they know that he wasn't the Doctor? He doubted it and he told her that if he had to, he would put them into contact with the Doctor to get permission from him for them to hire him.

"I could help you get a job at Coal Hill," Clara said, still not thinking that it was a good idea for him to work at UNIT.

He joined her at the counter when he was finished with making his omelet. "You'd do that? Wouldn't you get annoyed with being around me so much?"

"We'd be working!" She told him with a smile. She nudged him playfully and he grinned.

"Well, yeah. Of course we would be, but you'd see me a lot more than you're used to."

She shrugged. "I wouldn't mind. Besides, I think that they could do with a new history teacher anyway."

That seemed to make him smile more. Bingo. Part of the reason why she wanted him around her was so that she could keep a better eye on him. It wasn't that she didn't trust him. She didn't entirely trust UNIT and even if they got the Doctor's permission, she worried that they'd want to run tests on him. She didn't allow him here so that he could go let himself be used as a lab rat.

"Fine. You help me get a job as history teacher and I'll work at Coal Hill with you, so long as it's okay with you."

"Of course its okay with me or I wouldn't have suggested it. Now eat up. I'll bring you with me today. Who knows, maybe they'll even give you the job on the spot if they like you well enough."

With that, the two finished their meal. Clara finished getting ready and then once they were both ready to go she drove them both to Coal Hill.

Coal Hill was busy in the morning with kids rushing about to get breakfast or get to classes or both. Clara guided John to the front office where she asked for the Headmaster. He was a friendly bloke, though strict when he needed to be. Though with John, he did seem to like him right away.

"Nice lad Clara, you should keep him." Clara couldn't stop the blush from appearing on her cheeks.

"Sir, we're not, I'm not...," John rested a hand on her arm.

"It's okay Clara. Now sir..." the Headmaster interupted by telling him to call him by his name, George. George then. "Clara here tells me that you're looking for a new history teacher and I like to think of myself as a bit of a history buff and well, I was wondering if I could apply for the position."

So much for letting her talk, Clara thought. The Headmaster did seem interested though and gave John an application to fill out. He said that he'd interview him tomorrow. "Please don't go to UNIT today," Clara said when they were left alone again. She really needed to get to her class.

"Why not Clara? They'll hire me on right away."

Clara shook her head. "Because you're you. They'll know that you're not the Doctor and they'll want to test you and...," she let out a breath. "Just don't. Here," she pulled out her wallet and handed him some pounds. "Go do something. But don't go to UNIT."

John took in her worried expression and hesitantly took the money with a nod. He wouldn't go to UNIT then if it was that important to her, though she really didn't have anything to worry about. They wouldn't know that he wasn't the Doctor.

He handed in the application and then kissed Clara on the cheek before he left, money in his pocket and a whole city to explore before him.

Clara worried all day. John could get himself into so much trouble, he was the Doctor, of course he would get into trouble. Though as far as she knew, the day passed by without a single alien invasion, so she supposed he was doing okay on his own.

At the end of the day, she gave out homework, much to the children's disappointment and then left, or tried to leave anyway, before she was stopped by the Headmaster.

"This John, seems like a nice enough bloke. How do you feel about him working here?"

Clara smiled. The man was asking her opinion on John, surely he was thinking about hiring him. "He's great George. To be honest, he really does know a lot of history, won't stop talking about it half the time, bores me to sleep with it." That bit was true, about the Doctor at least. "And he's good with kids, those kids will like him and I bet you that they'll actually pay attention."

The man seemed thoughtful before he nodded and told her to have a good day. Clara left with a smile on her face.

She could hear noises inside her flat. John was home. Stepping inside, Clara hung up her jacket on the coat rack and went to go find him. He was in the kitchen and she knew that she should have known that from the beginning. There was flour all over the place.

"John! What are you doing?"

He jumped and whirled around. "I was making cookies for when you got home. None of the ingriedients are wanting to work though so that's not going to happen." That and Clara was already home.

She sighed and walked over to him. "You're supposed to get the ingredients in the bowl, not all over my kitchen. I hope that you know that you're cleaning this mess up."

He nodded and looked like a scorned child. Clara reached a hand up to ruffle his flour coated hair. She wished that she'd been here to see him make this mess. The young woman opened her mouth to tell him that he was adorable, but then closed it. No more flirting, none. Though after her falling asleep like she had on his shoulder last night sort of crossed the boundaries of flirting.

"Oi. Clara. Hands off. I'll clean up the mess and...and do you want to help me? You seem to be better at baking than I am." He could cook but he couldn't bake. She wanted to tell him that she wasn't much better at baking either, seeing as she never could get her mothers souffle right. She gave in and helped him with the cookies, chocolate chip. She wondered how he knew that they were her favorite because they'd never discussed favorites of cookies.

"Mmm. These are delicious," she said shortly after taking a bite of one. She sank down in the chair by her counter. John grabbed a cookie to try for himself and she heard him made a pleased sound as well. "You're right. We probably shouldn't eat too many of these though or we won't have any room for dinner."

Dinner. She should have thought of that before eating cookies. "Why did you let me eat cookies? We should have waited until after dinner." He really was a child sometimes, wasn't he? And now he was rubbing off on her.

"Don't worry Clara. You can still have dinner." John finished off his cookie and then started to put them away before he got to work on finishing the kitchen.

"Speaking of dinner. I've still got some money left from today. There was this lovely little Italian place that I passed before coming back here. Would you like to go out for dinner tonight?"

Was he asking her out on a date? He didn't seem to be suggesting that, but she didn't really know.

"Sure. Italian sounds nice. And if it's the place that I think that you're mentioning then I think you'll love it."

He grinned. She loved his grin. It was the same one that the Doctor had. Clara stood up to help him with the cleaning and he didn't protest. At his rate, it would never get clean and there was a certain way that she liked things in her kitchen.

"What did you do all day?" She asked curiously as she scrubbed at the counters. She hoped that he hadn't gone to UNIT.

"I didn't go to UNIT," he said, almost as if he'd read her mind. "I went to a museum. Haven't gone to one in awhile. Everything was in order so I left and grabbed some lunch at a deli. Did you know that they'll put banana's on your sandwich if you ask? I took my lunch to the park and stayed there awhile before making my way back here. It was weird, not doing all of the traveling thing, but nice in a way too."

Clara smiled. "See, human life isn't that bad. And thank you for not going to UNIT. I know that you want to get a job while you're here but I think think that you'll get one with the school."

His eyes lit up. "Really? You think so?" She nodded.

"Yeah. The Headmas...George came to me asking what I thought of you and well, I put in a few good words for you and I bet that you'll be getting a call from him soon enough." He'd be calling her phone if he did, but that was okay.

"Thank you Clara," he was hugging her from behind. Why did her stomach have to do that odd little flip it did whenever he got too close.

"Anytime John," she replied. Then she forced herself away and batted her towel at him lightly. "Go get cleaned up. Wear one of my dads suits. Italian equals fancy around here so you should look nice. I'll get dressed up too."

It looked like he wanted to ask something, but he didn't and left with a nod to go get ready as she'd said.

The kitchen was all clean now so she went into her own bedroom to find something nice to wear and change. She could hear the shower running as she was slipping into one of her prettier dresses.

She was waiting in the living room for him, dressed and ready to go when he finally appeared wearing one of her dads suits. He looked nice. She told him so.

"Thanks Clara," his eyes roamed her body for a short moment and she tried not to shuffle on her feet. "You look nice too," he said as his green eyes met her brown ones. Her cheeks tinted a light pink as she mumbled her thanks and grabbed her jacket. He led the way out of the door.

"So is this a date?" John seemed to have been waiting to ask that question. She had been waiting to ask it too.

Her cheeks turned pink again and she shrugged. "I don't know. Is it?" Should they even be thinking about dating? What about the Doctor?

"I don't know either. I mean...I like you, I do. It's just...him. You have more history with my original and I...if he found out he wouldn't be happy with either of us."

Clara sighed, he was right. Of course he was. He was the Doctor, a copy of him anyway. "He'd never return my feelings," she murmured, looking toward the ground as they walked. That was her admitting her feelings, why was she admitting them? Maybe it was because for some reason, she trusted John and she felt the same things for him, even though she knew that she shouldn't.

"If I feel these things for you then surely he does too. He's a very complicated man and while it would take him a long time to finally admit anything, you can't give up on him." He seemed to also be saying, 'you can't give up on me'.

They both stopped in the sidewalk, some people had to walk around them. She looked up at him.

"Does this mean what I think it does?" Clara asked softly, almost as if she was afraid to speak.

He nodded. "It does. And I'll understand if you don't want this to be date and maybe I've moved too fast, but I want you to know that I do feel something for you, I like you a lot Clara."

A smile worked it's way up on Clara's lips and she leaned up to kiss him on the cheek.

"Come on. We're in people's way. Let's go eat dinner."

Dinner was lovely. Clara ordered some pasta shrimp dish and the ganger found a pasta fish dish that he liked. They ate and talked and in general enjoyed themselves together. For a first sort of date, things were going well.

"You said that you were paying, right?" Clara asked as she rummaged through her purse anyway. She saw John nod out of the corner of her eye.

"Yes Clara. Don't do that. I'm paying. Do you want desert? I think that I want desert."

Clara laughed and agreed to desert despite the fact that she felt too full to eat much else. They ordered a brownie with ice cream and fudge on top and John ate most of it, though Clara help pick off bits of it. She was full and content and happy by the end of the whole meal and let John pay without an argument. Any other time she might insist on paying herself, but if she thought about it, it was her money that he was using so she decided not to worry about it too much.

They left the restaurant, John thought about taking Clara's hand, but decided that maybe that would be too risky. Sure this was a maybe sort of date, but that didn't mean that she would want him to hold his hand.

"What should we do now?" Clara asked, glanced over at him as they walked.

John shrugged. "We could just walk for awhile." It was better than being cooped up in her flat anyway. Not that he didn't mind her flat and he was the one who wanted to stay, but he'd rather be out i the open air.

"A walk is fine with me. We can go by the park if you want. You said that you went there earlier today, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did," he replied with a nod. "They've got a nice swing. You'd like it, well if you like swinging anyway."

Clara smiled and let John lead the way to the park. She knew where it was of course, but like the Doctor, she knew that he liked to think that he was the one in control, even if he had called her the boss one time.

"Come on Clara, there it is," John said, picking up the pace and eventually going into a run toward the swing when they finally reached the park. She grinned and laughed and hurried to catch up with him. She still thought that he acted like a child sometimes, him and the Doctor both. Ancient souls with a child like quality, though she supposed that the ganger wasn't probably all that ancient, he just remembered being that way.

Sitting in the swing already, John pumped his feet, making himself rise higher and higher up in the air. It was better to swing nearer nighttime, he thought. He could see the stars beginning to peep out and if he swung just high enough, maybe he could reach them. That was one thing that he missed about having his own TARDIS, the stars. He would never truly feel like the original time lord, he was so different from him, even if they did think alike.

"I haven't swung in ages," Clara said as she sat in the swing nearest him. She hadn't really meant to break the silence, but she did. He was too quiet for her liking. Though if she were to guess, he'd been admiring the stars.

John laughed and looked over at her. "Then you don't know how to have fun. I know that you're an adult and all, but everyone deserves a break every now and then."

She had to agree. She was always working, always had been. Ever since her mother died she'd distracted herself with work and school and the Maitlaids. And now she was a proper teacher. The adventures though, she didn't know if she could ever give them up. Clara pushed her legs to go higher, she would't get as high as him, but that was okay.

"I know, I know that I don't get out more that I should be like people my age. You told me that once before. Well, original you did." She glanced at him to see his reaction. There was none. "I just never have really done all those sorts of things, but this is fun. This I can do."

"I would hope so. Though I don't think that you're going to get nearly as high as I will." He grinned in a smug sort of way at her.

"Are you sure that you want to make that challenge?"

There was a nod. "Of course I'm sure."

And then, they both started swinging higher. No matter what she did, Clara knew that the ganger, John would beat her. And he did. Nearly ten minutes later he jumped off at least six feet away from the swings and rubbed his hands together as if it hadn't bothered him at all when he stood up. Clara rolled her eyes and then after a moment or two, jumped as well. She landed at least four feet away and dirt got onto her hands but she wiped it off.

His smile was smug again. And he opened his mouth to say something, but Clara interrupted him. "Don't you dare say you said so." She wouldn't be having any of that.

"Fine. I won't say I said so. But I did say so." She could smack that grin off of off his face. Huffing, Clara grabbed her purse that she'd set beside the swing.

"Oh, come on Clara. Don't be like that. You were the better swinger okay?" She glanced over at him. That she could live with, though she knew that it wasn't true. Clara nodded at him. "Okay. Thank you. Now come on. Let's walk home. I think that we both could do with some tea."

Clara was surprised when he walked toward her and took her hand in his own. He noticed her surprised and smiled in a reassuring way at her. Together, hand in hand, they walked home.


	4. Chapter 4

The next days morning routine was nearly the same as the day before except John and Clara had slept in their separate beds this time. John made breakfast for them both, much to Clara's surprise and before she had to leave for work she received a call. John got the job at Coal Hill. He grinned and hugged her and kissed her on the cheek.

"I got the job! Thank you thank you thank you Clara!"

With that, John hurried to change into his usual tweed jacket outfit and they left just on time.

It was a long and boring process to get him settled into the school and he couldn't have Clara at his side since she had to go teach right away. They gave him all the paperwork that he needed and then off he went to teach his first class.

Coal Hill. They were a rowdy bunch of kids and if it weren't for the fact that he made history sound like stories then he probably wouldn't have made it through the day. That was quite laughable now that he thought about it. Him, just like the Doctor, barely able to get through to a bunch of kids. But he had and he'd told Clara so when they met at the day.

"That's a lot better than what I did," Clara said to him. He raised an eyebrow. Clara Oswald couldn't get through those kids on her first day?

"They fought with me. No, not physically fought, but they wouldn't listen and I very nearly quit on the first day. But I reminded myself that I needed to keep going. I wasn't going to quit after all that I'd been through."

"No wonder he's had you as a companion," John said with a small smile.

Clara looked at him and smiled back. "That and he calls me the boss." There was a raise of an eyebrow from the copy.

"He calls you the boss, does he? Hmm...no wonder he was acting like he was jealous of us. He likes you." John knew that it was true. If he felt this way for Clara then his original must feel the same way for her. Maybe he should back off while he could, but he had this week with her, he could make the most of it.

"And yet you keep getting closer to me. Shouldn't you keep your distance?" It was like she'd read his mind.

"I'm not the only one getting closer Clara. So are you."

She drifted her gaze from his. He was right. She hadn't stopped herself from getting closer. And now that she'd been spending more time with him, well...somehow this felt right, being around him.

"Maybe we should be keeping our distance from each other. Last night...last night was amazing, but I know that if he knew that if we went on a sort of date then he'd be upset. He's my friend, I care for him and I...I care for you too. But I can't..."

He rested a hand on her shoulder. "I understand Clara." Though his eyes were sad, he understood. "It's for the best."

Besides, he could just focus on working at Coal Hill and they could just be friends. He should have known that nothing would have worked out between them anyway. Not really. He gave her a small smile and she smiled back.

"Come on. Let's go home. I need to catch up on grading papers and you need to plan for tomorrow's class."

"Yeah yeah, I work now. Don't remind me."

Clara set to work on grading students papers as soon as she got home. John was working across from her, history books piled in front of him as he made notes for tomorrows class. She could feel the distance between them now and while she knew that she'd agreed on it, she didn't exactly like it. She cared for him, she cared for the Doctor. Should she have to choose? She didn't want to.

She'd glance over at him every now and then and wonder what he was thinking. Was he upset with her? She didn't think so.

John allowed his mind to become distracted with the history in front of him. Much if it he could remember going back to see as the Doctor. It helped to have the memories because he knew that he could make the classes more realistic and more interesting for the kids. Though would it matter? Would he continue to stay here after this week or would he continue traveling with the Doctor? He didn't know and he wasn't sure if he wanted answers to his own questions.

What to do about Clara? He could feel her gaze on him every now and then and while it didn't bother him, he too wondered what was going through her mind. Did she regret saying that she just wanted to be friends with him? He regretted even bringing up the Doctor at all. He shouldn't have done that because where would they be now? Certainly not here with this awful silence between them. Hours seemed to pass and when he was finally done with classes organized for the next couple of days, he stood and said, "I'm going to make some tea. Do you want any?"

Clara's brown eyes looked at him as she turned her head in his direction and he saw her nod. "Yes please. And could you add a spoonful of sugar to mine?" He nodded as well and went into her kitchen. He still didn't know where everything was, but he was learning.

Soon enough, he had the tea on the stove and was waiting for the whistle to blow. John let out a sigh and leaned against one of the kitchen counters.

This life was one that the Doctor always thought that he couldn't do and yet he was doing okay with it so far. If things didn't work out with him and Clara, if they always remained friends and he had to go get his own flat somewhere and live on his own, could he do it? Or would the Doctor take him back? Would there be less tension between the two of them if the Doctor knew that him and Clara had stopped their flirting? Maybe.

The tea whistled and he prepared him and Clara each a glass, hers as she wanted it. Before taking it out to her, he grabbed some jammie dodgers that he'd seen in her cabinet and took it all out where she was.

Clara was putting her things away when the ganger appeared. He had two cups of tea and she wasn't really surprised to see the package of Jammie dodgers.

"I see that you and the Doctor have the same tastes," Clara said as she accepted her cup of tea from him with a thank you.

"Of course we do. We're the same, remember?" John sipped at his tea after sitting down and then grabbed one of the jammie dodgers.

Taking a jammie dodger out of the package as well, Clara said, "At least I know what to make you then. Though he's always so picky. Maybe the more you stay here the more you won't be as picky as him."

He shrugged. She made that sound like she wanted him to stay there. Did she? And could he? John didn't ask. He didn't feel that it was had to right then.

"You know, this weekend I have a family thing with my dad. You'll have the place to yourself. Can I trust you alone here?"

Raising an eyebrow at her, John asked, "Yeah you can trust me. Though what's this thing you have with your dad?"

"Oh, it's just a family reunion thing. You wouldn't like it. It's dreadfully boring. And my dad's bringing her so he'll be showing her off to everyone."

"Who's her?" John asked after swallowing a bite of jammie dodger.

Clara sighed softly. "Linda. My future step mother. Well, he'll expect me to try to treat her as that, but I've told him no. I don't even like her. How could he think that I could treat her as a mother. Besides, my mother was my mother and no one will replace her. He can try to, but I won't."

"Clara, I doubt that he's replacing her. He's probably just...lonely. A lot of people are that way after they lose someone that they loved so much."

"I know...I know. It'd be easier to accept if she wasn't so horrible. She's no...nagging and she purposefully tries to act motherly but in a horrible way like...you'd have to see her to know what I mean."

Hmm...maybe he could get her to let him go to this reunion. Besides, it'd be nice to meet some of Clara's family even if she didn't like them all much. "I could go with you. Make the day less dreadful. Who knows, I might even make the event better."

She laughed. "That's nice of you John, but I don't want to drag you along to this with me. You wouldn't like it." Besides, they would think that he was her boyfriend and he wasn't her boyfriend. That was also something that they always bothered her about, Clara thought.

"Please Clara? I'll dress up nice and everything. It'll be fun if I go. We could put on music and I can teach everyone how to dance."

Now it was Clara's turn to raise an eyebrow. "You? Teach everyone to dance? Now that is a sight that would be interesting to see. Okay then, family reunion. You're going."

John grinned. If he could win her family over, maybe he could finally win Clara over like he really wanted to. Besides, if they liked him well enough they might try to make some suggestions for Clara to date him.

He tried not to get his hopes up too much as he said, "Excellent. It's a date then."

Clara's cheeks turned pink, though he didn't notice because he'd gotten another jammie dodger out of the package.

"John! What did we say? We're not dating? We're not together. And if they ask if we are you say no."

"Blimey Clara, it's just a word. You don't have to take it so seriously. Fine. It's not a date date, but we're going to this thing on a certain day. There. Is that better?"

He looked over at her and was glad to see her nod. "That's a lot better."

"A not date day thing it is then. Which day was it exactly?"

"Saturday. So we better get you to the mall before then so that you're not wearing that or one of my dad's outfits."

John gave her an offended look. "What's wrong with this? I always wear this and so does the Doctor."

"There's nothing wrong with it. I just...you should get more outfits than that one. You can even wear a bow tie if you want to," Clara said.

He grinned. "Alright. As long as I can wear a bow tie. Let's go shopping tomorrow, that's Friday right? After work is done with?"

"Friday is good. Besides, it's our last day to actually go shopping before the day anyway."

John smiled and leaned back. If things worked according to plan then he and Clara would be together in no time at all, at least he hoped so anyway.


End file.
